Crime & Safety

Cop Pretends to be Teenage Girl & Catches Pedophile, Say Police

A Chicago man's sex chats with someone he thought was a 14-year-old Naperville girl turned out to really be with a cop, so he went to jail, police said.

A Chicago man who thought he was preying on a 14-year-old Naperville girl got the surprise of his life when he found out he'd actually been sex-talking and exposing himself to a cop, police said.

Mark Barreto, 34, of 300 N. Canal St. was jailed Wednesday on charges of aggravated child pornography, regular child pornography, indecent solicitation of a child, and grooming.

"The Bolingbrook Police Department, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the FBI were instrumental in conducting the investigation and securing the arrest," according to a release from the Will County State's Attorney's Office. 

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Barreto allegedly transferred digital images of child pornography over the Internet. His online creepiness also included discussing "acts of sexual conduct over the Internet with someone he believed to be a child" and exposing "himself to that individual," according to a statement released by Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow's office.

But the person Barreto believed to be a child was in reality "the persona of a 14-year-old Naperville girl that was created by High Technology Crimes Unit investigators," the statement said.

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A Bolingbrook man with whom Barreto discussed setting up a sex date with a 14-year-old girl at a Bolingbrook hotel "launched" the investigation into Barreto's alleged illegal conduct, according to the statement from the state's attorney's office. The same statement said Barreto's arrest followed a six-month investigation by the High Technology Crimes Unit.

Six months ago, officers with the High Technology Crimes Unit arrested Bolingbrook man Joseph Truschke on five counts of aggravated child pornography.

Truschke, 35, faced up to 30 years in prison on the class X felony charge, but after pleading guilty six weeks ago—and despite a prior sex crime conviction for sexually abusing a 4-year-old—he is due to be released from prison only four years after he was locked up.

Truschke is doing his time at Big Muddy Correctional Center.

Barreto's bond was set at $250,000. Just as Truschke had when he was arrested, Barreto faces up to 30 years in prison on the aggravated child pornography charge alone.

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